


we won't need legs to stand

by orphan_account



Category: Social Network (2010), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-18
Updated: 2012-06-18
Packaged: 2017-11-08 00:24:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/437073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'what would a top government official for a not-so secret agency want with eduardo?' 'he's been compromised' for allerdyce</p>
            </blockquote>





	we won't need legs to stand

he’s at a technology summit in san fran, mingling with middle aged suits who wouldn’t know the next big thing if it bit them on the ass when the guy mark is shaking hands with won’t let go of his arm. it makes all the hairs on the back of his neck rise, his gaze flickering to the guy standing in front of him and.

“hello mr. zuckerberg. i’d like to talk to you about the avengers initiative.” it’s nick fucking _fury_ , top government agent. (mark only knows who he is because one night sean got high and hacked into homeland security's web server and found a shit ton of information on this dick and an organization called _s.h.i.e.l.d_ )

“i don’t want to join your super secret final club.” his quip is automatic, sarcasm was easy. being surprised wasn’t.

mark pulls his hand away and turns to leave, his heart in his throat because _what the fuck._ had they finally caught on that his company’s president liked to hack into their website every few months and remove any information on “his personal life” (sean’s words, not mark’s) he pleased?

but fury catches the cuff of his hoodie sleeve. “mr. zuckerberg--this is about eduardo saverin.”

the name shoots down mark’s spine like lead, freezing him in the moment. he hasn’t heard that name in years. he’s thought about that name and its owner, but it’s different thinking something and _hearing_ something. he feels like a bucket of ice water has been thrown on him. 

but he’s mark zuckerberg and he’s going to do what mark zuckerberg does best, click out. he pushes all those feelings--a twisting stomach, a soft _i’m here for you,_ a hurried _i need my cfo_ , and _you set me up_ \--pushes them away, compartmentalizes them for later and turns to fury. “what would a top government official for a not-so secret agency want with eduardo?”

“he’s been compromised.” 

mark runs through the rolodex of meanings for the word compromised; agreements, made a sacrifice, injured, killed. and all mark is able to do is snarl out at fury. “what do you mean _compromised_?”

fury gives him nothing. his face is a mask. “you’re going to have to come with me, mr. zuckerberg.” 

“and what if i don’t?” mark’s retort is automatic, self-preservation. every part of him that wardo has hurt is _screaming_ no. and every part of him that wardo hurt is screaming _yes._

“but you will,” fury says. “he’s asking for you.” 

 

mark doesn’t recognize the boy laying on the bed in stark tower. he’s a man, really, all lean and well-defined muscle--the kind you earn doing true labor, not at the gym, hard and wiry. but to mark eduardo saverin will always be a boy. no matter the cuts on his face and the bandage wrapped around his side, the skin around the edges of the gauze a horrible shade of purple, he will always be the boy who used to tempt mark away from his computer with the promise of red bull and real food. 

it’s not even that difficult for mark to wrap his head around the whole, _eduardo got bit by a radioactive spider and now he’s a superhero_ thing because on the flight over, he’d tried hacking into stark’s archives and personal files. he got a little meat out of the attempt, but _damn_ stark was good. (he’d have to remember to ask him about that before he left.) and anyways, things start to lose their shock value after you wake up at twenty years old and _holy shit, you’re a fucking billionaire._

but what does make his insides twist and his breath catch is the fact that wardo is dying and mark never even got a chance to say he was sorry.

 

he spends time sulking on the top floor of the tower--it’s called avengers tower, but to mark it will always be stark tower because the technology reeks of stark’s signature, he can feel the billionaire hero in the walls, for chrissake. he doesn’t like being in banner’s lab-turned-er for too long, the feeling of the whole place clawing at his skin. 

surprisingly, it’s the demigod that is the first to really talk to mark. he’s huge--a massive presence with the cackling energy of a summer storm but also the warm comfort of thunder on a dry august night. he sits down next to mark. “you worry that you will never tell him that you are sorry.”

his statement makes mark jump, because how the fuck does a fucking norse god know that kind of shit. yet thor is explaining before mark can even snap out a barb. “i worry too. for my brother. i will never be able to tell him that i am sorry. that he is forgiven. loki is lost to me, too corrupted by mistakes made by those who love him.”

 

at night, mark sleep in a chair by wardo’s bed. eduardo twists and turns in his sleep, crying out and unable to rest. mark touches his hair and whispers to him that it will be alright. 

he knows bruce pretends not to see, but eduardo shouts keep everyone awake. 

mark tells eduardo over and over that he is sorry. when he is asleep and when he is awake, teeth clenched in pain, delrious in a waking fever dream. it hurts to see him like this and mark can’t help but feel like it’s his fault.

 

the story is this, you see.

eduardo saverin gets an internship in the summer of 2004 at a large science lab in new york city. he’s going to be working with their finances, helping them set up an endowment. eduardo saverin is also going to be working on getting money for his best friend’s company.

what actually happens is this: a week into eduardo’s internship, there is a crisis at the lab. a tech makes a mistake during feeding and one of the animal experiments escapes. they lock down the labs and tell everyone else that all is well, they are safe and to go back to work. 

right before he is about head out for lunch, eduardo saverin gets bit on the back of the hand by a spider. he doesn’t think much of it and it doesn’t even hurt that much. he goes home to his rented studio apartment.

the rest is history that will be recorded in web articles and comic books.

 

after a week, the infection in the bullet wound begins to subside and eduardo saverin starts to heal. and so does mark zuckerberg.

 

 

when they finally kiss, it’s mark who tugs on the hem of eduardo’s shirt, an old fadded graphic tee he thinks might actually belong to tony, but then he’s kissing him and he doesn’t really think of much else. eduardo’s mouth is soft and warm--it’s mark reaching for him now, after years of eduardo reaching.

(clint, who’s watching everything, smiles to himself and doesn’t say anything.)

 

fin.


End file.
